In May of 1981 North Shore Bank moved its Danvers office to its current 48 Elm Street location — the site of the historic Putnam-Fellows-Masury house. While renovating the property, the bank worked closely with the Danvers Historical Commission, considering factors such as the extensive history and the importance of the house to the community and streetscape. In recognition of its efforts, North Shore Bank won a Massachusetts Historical Commission Preservation Award that same year.
This 19th Century Greek revival property was built in 1845 by Alfred Fellows and his wife. During its early years, the house was the scene of many anti-slavery meetings with abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, Thomas Wentworth Higgenson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Theodore Parker and George William Curtis frequently gathering in the home. Other guests of the Fellows included essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson and Oliver Wendall Holmes. Their daughter Evelyn continued the tradition of entertaining VIPs after she married Captain Charles H. Masury and moved into the family home. Some of their guests included President and Mrs. William Howard Taft, President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and his grandson by the same name.
North Shore Bank is obviously proud of the property and is honored to have been able to preserve the building for the benefit of the greater Danvers community.